Produce, such as agricultural produce or meat or fish, is normally packaged into a container for storage and transport to wholesale or retail outlets. Depending on the type of produce, the container is often made of a cardboard material, which is provided with an internal lining and/or produce tray. Occasionally agricultural produce is also packaged into individual bags inside the lining, e.g. bunches of grapes. Furthermore, an additional desiccant sheet is sometimes placed into the container to absorb any moisture or condensation that is present in the container.
A disadvantage of all the additional packaging that is inserted into the container is that the packaging tends to block any ventilation holes that are provided in the container. Thus air cannot flow into or out from the container to correctly refrigerate or aerate the produce and resulting in inconsistent and slow cooling of the produce from ambient temperatures to required storage temperatures. This leads to poorer quality produce being delivered to retail outlets.
When exporting produce to certain countries, the produce may be treated with gas fumigants, such as sulphur dioxide or methyl bromide. The gas should therefore be able to quickly and fully penetrate the container, and if necessary, be able to be effectively extracted upon termination of the treatment.
It is an object of the present invention, to suggest an air flow channel for a packaging container, which will assist in overcoming these problems.